anyone ever use Triops in your tanks?

[JohnPaul]

I'm curious as to whether any of you have ever used triops in your tanks, either adults (as cleanup crew) or juveniles/babies as live food for your fish. I just saw an article about them on another aquarium site, and after searching a bit it seems one can order a starter culture for under $20 shipped from a variety of sites online.

Anyone ever try these things?

Here's the link to the article I saw: http://www.petfish.net/kb/entry/19/188/[/url]

 

[hc8719]

i actually kept a batch 2 years ago, i can tell you that none of mine bred though. And their natural lifespan is like 2 weeks, so its kinda a bummer.

i think they just looked hard shelled, but are really soft, i suppose you could feed them to fish...

 

[MarkP]

Never used them, understand they shred plants and should be fed vegetables, and the eggs must be dried before the next generation will hatch.

Beleive wal-mart sells a kit of their eggs for less then you mentioned. Well, I know they sell a kit, I think it was for around $5-6.

I thought they had a life-cycle of about 6 months, but again, I've never kept them.

 

[hc8719]

Never used them, understand they shred plants and should be fed vegetables, and the eggs must be dried before the next generation will hatch.

Beleive wal-mart sells a kit of their eggs for less then you mentioned. Well, I know they sell a kit, I think it was for around $5-6.

I thought they had a life-cycle of about 6 months, but again, I've never kept them.

actually i got mine at wal-mart, they only gave me 3 eggs, i'm pretty sure they die relatively quick after reaching maturity

 

[Devilishturtles]

Wal-Mart does sell them for around $3-4. I've grown them once in a 1 gallon critter keeper. It says on the box they alst 30-90 days I believe. You get alot of eggs and food in the kit. Mine stayed alive almost 2 months then died. If you follow the instructions you should be good to go. If you put them in your tank, your fish will just eat them.

 

[7Enigma]

That growth rate sounds rediculous. They sound cool (before clicking I swore you were trying to raise sea-monkeys ), but alas I have a planted tank, and my QT tank would be just asking for trouble if I accidentally scooped up one of these guys during a transfer.

Maybe I'll give these guys a shot at some point anyway, they certiantly seem interesting.

First post on that link is funny however as they put the eggs in distilled water. No wonder nothing survived, the osmotic pressure inwards probably burst all the little triops before they even had a chance!

 

[Jaybird]

I couldn't do that! Man, they look too much like a parasite that fish would get in Argentina. We would go fishing for Dorado or Surubí and sometimes it was so bad that in their gills they would have dozens on each side.

The sound cool, but eerily similar. For me, too similar.

 

[7Enigma]

I couldn't do that! Man, they look too much like a parasite that fish would get in Argentina. We would go fishing for Dorado or Surubí and sometimes it was so bad that in their gills they would have dozens on each side.

The sound cool, but eerily similar. For me, too similar.

Thank you. You just gave me the shivers, and I'm not easily freaked out.

 

[Codefox]

I've raised them on their own before, they're very interesting creatures